How I make my Micro-Velvet Reborn Doll Bodies...

It takes me a good 2 hours to design and make a custom body for each Reborn doll's proportions. Sometimes I make preemie size dolls, newborn, 3 months size, etc. Since this was going to be the first time I have made a doll 3 - 6 months size, I recorded my journey for you to watch. Don't worry, I condensed 2 hours down to only 2 minutes.

But, before we look at that video you are probably thinking, "Why does she go to all the trouble to design her own cloth body when there are premade bodies available to purchase?"

When I started making Reborn dolls I ordered those tan color pre-sewn bodies for each kit I made; just like everyone else did and still does. If you are familiar with the premade cloth bodies there are different sizes, but to make it easier, for example, cloth body "A" might fit dolls that are 18- 20 inches long, and body "B" works best with dolls that are 21- 24 inches long, and so on. These premade bodies do save you a lot of work time, but I found that some aren't a "perfect" fit for each doll kit. Since I challenge myself with each doll to make it look as realistic as possible, why wouldn't I want the body to be it's best too? The answer is, I do. So I found myself taking those pre-sewn bodies and making sewing adjustments to better fit the doll it would be used with. It didn't take me long to realize, what I needed to do was just design and sew my own cloth bodies so each one would be that perfect fit I was looking for.

I decided if I was going to make my own, I wanted to do it right. So I did my research to find out what the typical proportion sizes were for infants at different ages and I used those measurements to sketch sewing patterns as I needed them.

The end result was a super soft, micro-velvet, cloth body that you just want to squeeze in your arms.